


You My Wayward Girl

by anotetofollow



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Bioware did Sera dirty, F/F, Gift Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Injury Recovery, Near Death Experiences, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition Quest - Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, let her have good things, she's mine now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23984107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anotetofollow/pseuds/anotetofollow
Summary: Tevi Adaar meets with peril after resolving the Orlesian civil war. Sera isn't happy about it.
Relationships: Female Adaar/Sera, Female Inquisitor/Sera
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	You My Wayward Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [southwarden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/southwarden/gifts).



> title from [here](https://open.spotify.com/track/2FeUZsmNGWc3No6v9GCdST)

“Their _faces_ when you showed up all bloody,” Sera laughed, banging the flat of her hand against the table. “All them posh knobs looking like they might shit themselves. Hope one did.”

“It was… unfortunate, that it ended so,” Josephine sighed. “Placating the nobles will not be an easy task. But we have Celene’s support, and that’s what matters.”

“To everything working out,” Tevi said, lifting her tankard. “Even if it’s messy.”

Her friends touched their cups to hers, with a few _hear hear_ s. The Winter Palace had been… something. Orlesian politics were not, Tevi had decided, something she had any desire to be involved with again. It had almost been a relief when the fighting broke out, giving her a problem that could be fixed with a swing of her greatsword.

It was good to be back at the Herald’s Rest, away from all the stiff clothes and snide eyes. The humble warmth of the tavern had something that all the grandeur of Halamshiral could never match. Tevi and her friends had been drinking to celebrate their victory for most of the evening, and she was starting to feel a little woozy.

“Know what I think?” she said.

“What’s that, boss?” Bull asked.

Tevi frowned in concentration for a long moment. “Nope. No, it’s gone.”

“You’re drunk,” Sera snickered, draping her arm over Tevi’s shoulder. “Think it would take more, being that big.”

“Well, it doesn’t.” Tevi smiled lazily, turning round to plant a clumsy kiss on the top of Sera’s head. “I should get some sleep. See you later?”

“Count on it.”

Tevi got up and stretched, catching the back of her chair when the world swayed a little. Whatever it was that Cabot had been pouring all night was strong stuff. She walked out of the Herald’s Rest, placing her feet carefully so she didn’t stumble. Probably wouldn’t be great for the Inquisition’s reputation if their leader fell ass-over-tit in the middle of the tavern.

The mountain breeze that blew across the courtyard was cold and fresh, and when it hit Tevi’s face she sobered a little. It was late now, the waxing moon a bright crescent in the sky. There was a lot to do tomorrow, with the fallout from the Winter Palace, nobles to meet and treaties to sign and patrols to approve. It was Tevi’s least favourite kind of work, the dull bureaucracy that came with leadership. If it was up to her she’d let her advisors deal with it — they were the experts, after all — but they insisted that she at least be _present_ for the decision-making, even if her contributions largely consisted of shrugging and saying ‘sure, sounds good’ over and over again.

Dulled as her senses were by the drink, she didn’t see the man until he was right in front of her. He was dressed in dark leathers, a hood pulled low over his face. Tevi waited for him to move out of her way as she walked towards the steps of the keep, but he remained still. It made the back of her neck prickle. Something wasn’t quite right.

“Hello?” Tevi said. “Can I help you?”

“Gaspard sends his regards.”

The voice came not from the man in front of her, but from someone standing just behind her shoulder. Tevi turned in time to see the flash of moonlight on metal, and then pain was lancing through her stomach, her back, her kidneys. She lashed out wildly, throwing punches where her assailants had been standing, but between the dark and the drink very few of the blows landed. Her strength was seeping away bit by bit, her shirt growing wet and warm with blood. Tevi took one halting step forward, clutching at her side. And then she fell.

* * *

Nothing made sense. It was like trying to read a book through clouded glass, seeing the shape of the words but not their meaning. There were voices, some whispers, some raised in anger. Hands on her body, lifting her. Someone tipped a liquid down her throat, foul-tasting and bitter. She coughed, tried to push them away, but her arms were too weak to move. Louder than all else was the pain. It began in sharp points at her back and stomach, radiating out through her body in low pulses of agony. Breathing was difficult. The world changed from dark to light once, twice, three times. When she slept she dreamed of the sea; standing on a cliff with the iron-grey waves beating at the rocks below, gulls wheeling above. Then a hard push at her shoulders would throw her back into wakefulness, back to pain.

The first time she woke properly Josephine was there, sitting at the desk in Tevi’s quarters. She was writing something, her brow furrowed as she dipped her quill into the inkwell. _I am in my quarters_. There, that was something. Tevi tried to sit up and cried out, her gut burning with pain. _I am injured_.

Josephine looked up from her work, startled, and rushed over to Tevi’s bedside.

“You’re awake,” she said. “Thank the Maker. Don’t try and move too quickly.”

Tevi couldn’t if she wanted to. She pushed the blankets down to reveal a mass of bandages around her torso, stained in several places with drops of blood. _Someone stabbed me._ It was only then that she noticed the guard posted on her balcony, another at the top of the steps.

“What _happened_?” Tevi asked, gingerly turning so she could look at Josephine.

“Gaspard loyalists,” the ambassador said quietly. “You deposed their leader. They took it up on themselves to avenge him.”

“How did they even get into the keep?”

“Leliana is still trying to work that out. We suspect that they may have been part of our own forces, loyal until you scuppered the Duke’s plans.”

“Shit,” Tevi said, placing a hand on her dressings. “How bad is it?”

“It was… close, for a while there.” Josephine’s face was drained of colour, her grim expression giving weight to the words. “On that first night we were unsure whether you would make it. But the healers said that if you woke up lucid then the worst had passed.”

“How can you tell if I’m lucid?”

Josephine raised her hand. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Sorry,” Tevi shook her head. “Just see a bunch of nugs with little hats on. Guess that’s the end for me.”

“Well, you’re definitely still you,” she smiled. “Get some more rest.”

“How much rest? Like ‘stay in bed until Corypheus is defeated and we can all go home’, that kind of thing?”

“Not _quite_ that much. I’ll check on you later.” Josephine went and gathered her papers from the desk, then walked down the stairs towards the hall.

Tevi laid back against the pillows, wincing as pain sliced through her back. Somehow she managed to sleep, though it was light and fitful this time, her dreams no more than a series of brief, shadowed images.

When she woke again someone was shouting.

“Let me in or I’ll put an arrow through your soft bits, you hear me?” Sera, her voice sharp and tight. Furious.

“The commander’s orders were very clear,” the guard said, sounding a little alarmed. “We’re not to admit anyone to the Inquisitor’s quarters without permission.”

“Whose permission? I’m not begging tight-arse to let me see her. He’s less right to her than I have. If you don’t get out of my way I’ll—”

“Hey!” Tevi called, easing herself up to a sitting position. “Let her in.”

“Your Worship, Commander Cullen—”

“Isn’t in charge here,” she said. “I am. And I’m telling you to go wait outside.” Tevi looked over to the guard on the balcony. “You too. Give us some privacy.”

The soldiers glanced at one another, clearly uncertain, but when Sera raised her fists they quickly scurried out of the room. Once they were alone Sera stormed over to Tevi’s bedside, her face a grim mask of anger.

“ _Stupid_ ,” she spat. “I _told_ you not to get mixed up in their shit. I _told_ you bad things happen when you play around with big ones.”

Tevi frowned, the beginnings of a headache pulsing behind her eyes. “Sera, what are you—”

“But no, you had to play their stupid game, fight their stupid war, do everything _their_ way.” She was pacing up and down, the motion of it making Tevi dizzy.

“Is this about the Winter Palace?”

“It’s about you getting yourself killed!” Sera spun on her heel to look down at her. “Was it worth it? Fixing Orlais, just to get a knife in your guts?”

Tevi gathered her thoughts. It wasn’t easy, pushing through the wall of pain and confusion to find the words. “You piss off the nobility all the time. It’s risky, sure, but I wouldn’t think you’d disapprove.”

“It’s different ways, innit?” Sera said, folding her arms tight across her chest. “A little arrow here, fine. A little march-march, look where you’re going, fine, safe. A little talk with little people. That doesn’t put a great frigging target on your back. You didn’t piss them off, you _helped_ them. And that pissed off others more. You fight from the top, it’s too dangerous. No hiding there.”

“Right.” It took Tevi a long time to process her outburst. When Sera was brimming with emotion like this — anger, excitement, lust, confusion — her words grew fragmented, hard to pick through. When Tevi found the kernel of meaning she sighed. “The more important the Inquisition gets, the more people will want to kill me.”

“It’s happening already.” Sera’s lip trembled, just for a moment. “People kill people like you all the time. People kill people like me too, but not like this. Not with knives in the night. You’re too big, Buckles. This isn’t how you’re supposed to go down.”

“That’s what I thought,” Tevi managed a smile. “Turns out six feet of horns and muscle doesn’t make you impervious to daggers, though.”

“Don’t laugh,” Sera said. “Not funny. I thought—” her breath hitched, just a little “—it was me found you out there. All still and bleeding in the mud. You weren’t _breathing_. Then they took you away and they wouldn’t let me see you and—” Sera cut herself off, swallowing hard.

“You were worried about me.” As hard as it was to see her lover this upset, Tevi couldn’t deny the wave of affection she felt then. Sera didn’t show her softness often.

“Of course I frigging was! I thought you were gone. Just there and then… nothing.”

“I’m not gone,” Tevi said. “Feel like a dragon’s used me as a chew toy but I’m still here. Still alive.”

“For now.” Sera started worrying at her lip, one foot tapping restlessly against the floor. “How long before someone else gets it into their head to off you?”

“Given my record so far, I’d say a week at most.”

“Stupid.” Sera let out a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “So stupid.”

“Hey.” Tevi pulled herself over to the other side of the bed, closer to her. “What’s this really about?”

Sera sniffed, wiped her eyes, then took Tevi’s hand in hers. “You’re home, right? First home ever. First place that’s safe, with you, and then you die on me. What’s left then? Just nothing. Can’t lose something you don’t have, but it’s too late now. You’re here.” She lifted Tevi’s hand and placed it on her chest, over her heart. Tevi felt it beating, fast as sparrow-wings.

“Oh, Sera. C’mere.” She shuffled over, pulling her onto the bed. Sera buried her face in her shoulder, one hand gripping tight to her arm, and Tevi held her as close as she was able. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“You can’t know that.” Sera’s voice was muffled. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“That’s true,” Tevi said. “But you can’t promise me that either. We do dangerous things all the time. What’s left for me if I lose you?”

“What?” Sera lifted her head, her expression confused. The whites of her eyes were webbed with pink. “What d’you mean?”

“Well, you’re hardly the most cautious person in the world. And you’re not exactly a brawler. It’s just as likely that you’ll get hurt as I will. _More_ likely, even.”

“Not that part. The other bit.”

“What other bit?”

Sera groaned. “The ‘if I lose you’ bit. You said it like it mattered.”

For a moment Tevi just looked into her eyes. So tough, so viciously committed to protecting the hopeless people of the world, so quick to bring judgement down on anyone who didn’t meet her standards, and still Sera couldn’t see the worth in herself. It broke her heart a little. “It does matter. You’re not the only one who’s afraid. I couldn’t do any of this without you.”

“What— yes you could. Shut up.”

“No, I couldn’t,” Tevi laughed. Ignoring how her body ached, she leaned in and gently kissed Sera’s neck, her cheek, her eyelids. “You’re brave, and you’re smart, and you care. I don’t know where I’d be without you kicking my ass. I don’t want to know.”

Sera laughed, that high trill she made when she was nervous. “Not true. Stop it.”

“No.” Tevi sat up, her face suddenly serious. She picked up Sera’s hand and — with some effort — brought it to rest on top of her own heart. “Listen. You’re home for me too.”

Sera’s mouth worked furiously, flickering between looking like she was about to cry and a smile that lit up her face like the sun. “Alright. Shit. If I jump you right now it’ll hurt, won’t it?”

“Yeah, it’ll hurt a lot.”

“Bugger. Later then.” Sera burrowed against Tevi’s chest, carefully placed her arm so it wasn’t disturbing the bandages. “Really love you, you know. Die again and I’ll kill you.”

“Noted.” Tevi smiled, kissing the top of her head. “Really love you too.”

They talked for a little while longer, of small, inconsequential things, and the warmth of Sera’s body alongside her own eased some of Tevi’s pain. As the evening wore on the sky changed from blue to pink to navy, and by the time it was full dark she was exhausted again. She drifted into sleep not long after Sera began snoring on her chest. This time her dreams were sweet things, all honey and sunlight and soft lips on her skin.

That night, for once, Tevi slept well.

**Author's Note:**

> gift fic for @southwarden (who is my hero, and has given me more gifts than i can count)


End file.
